New Category
I have added a new category for Eminent Domain, another pet issue of mine. The reason is to track potential abuses like this one:
Winona will pursue eminent domain to take over the Key Real Estate property because the owners want “considerably more” money than the city has offered, the city attorney says. City Attorney Richard Blahnik defined eminent domain as “the taking of private property for a public purpose by a government (entity).”
If you want the property, tender an offer. The market sets the price not a government agency. More:
In this case, the city is widening Pelzer to four lanes, as well as building a bridge over the railroad tracks.
Parts of U.S. Highway 14, on which Key Real Estate sits, are included in the project.
Blahnik says the assessed value of the property, 415 Ronald Ave., is $437,000.
The city has offered the appraised value of $630,000, he said. The current owners paid $595,000 to buy the property in August 2003.
On the plus side, this is not a case of a government taking the property only to sell it cheap to a private entity that wants to develop it. Given what I know of appraisals (they are typically low), it seems to me that a decent counter offer could solve the problem, after all legal fees will run in the tens of thousands.
